Edificio Bacardi
Glazed terracotta art deco tower crowned by a bronze bat, once home to a Prohibition-era rum bar.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Edificio Bacardi in Havana opens with thirsty Americans crossing from Key West during Prohibition to find a marble bar with no rules. It follows the rum company's decision to build an art deco headquarters raised at astonishing speed, with a public bar on the ground floor and a mezzanine restaurant positioned to watch the counter below. You'll hear where the granite and terracotta came from, and the story behind the bronze bat that gives the tower its emblem, tracing back to the company's first distillery in Santiago de Cuba. Stand across the street to take in the full stepped crown against the sky.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
El Floridita Bar
Historic cocktail bar credited with inventing the frozen daiquiri, its red-coated bartenders still pouring the original recipe.
Sloppy Joe's Bar, Havana
Neoclassical corner saloon with a rebuilt single-trunk mahogany bar, once the longest counter in Latin America.
Museo del Ron Havana Club
Colonial mansion museum tracing rum-making from cane field to barrel, with tastings led by master blenders.
Hotel Nacional de Cuba
Grand marble hotel raised fast for the elite, later a trade school for peasants.
La Bodeguita Del Medio
Cramped, signature-covered bar credited with inventing the mojito amid decades of legendary graffiti.
Edificio Focsa
Y-shaped concrete tower rising above Vedado, once among the tallest of its kind built anywhere.